Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday September 23, 2009 @09:21AM
from the page-turners dept.

rbanffy points out an article on Gizmodo about Courier, a tablet (or more accurately, a booklet) in development at Microsoft. "The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre." A concept video shows off the ability to use the two different screens for separate purposes, like browsing the web or a photo album on the left and using the right as a notepad or workspace.

Courier actually does look really nice. I have been thinking of buying a eBook reader, but the fact this has dual screen with multitouch makes me want to wait for this one, and that it can act as a tablet too. It makes it a lot more book like which you can see from the pictures too.

Besides eBook reader this would be a nice device to browse the web or do some work in the bed or sofa.

And I'm suprised to say this but compared to Apple's tablet this will probably be more open (in the not-restricted-to-apples-store way) and have a Windows platform. I hope they reveal more details soon.

To me this thing is in a completely different category from eBook readers.

What you're really paying for on eBook readers and the real benefit is an e-ink display, which this most certainly does not have unless Microsoft has made some technological breakthroughs they're not sharing. If you get an eBook reader that uses regular LCDs you're right back in the realm of trying to read a book that's printed on top of a lightbulb that's switched on, with the accompanying battery requirements of powering said lightbulb.

I guess it depends on how you use it too. Myself I probably have little use to carry it around, so I would mostly be using it in a bed to read something or surf the web and so on. This probably dont have the same battery requirements as normal laptops, so the battery life would still be many hours.

The added advantage is that its not just eBook reader, but you can do a lot more with it. Personally I dont like using laptop in bed, its too clumsy or you cant get yourself in good position. If this is more book

on eBook readers [...] the real benefit is an e-ink display, which this most certainly does not have unless Microsoft has made some technological breakthroughs they're not sharing.

I'd say they for sure do not have such a tech. MS doesn't develop hardware, they are primarily a software company that is also putting together hardware devices. They do not develop hardware tech really - they use off-the-shelf (a PC with nice case = XBOX) tech and use that to build their stuff. That is not meant negatively; Apple is doing much of the same, just a bit more successful. It's like playing with legos, the creativity is in how you put the parts together.

It still has a backlit screen. I have yet to be able to read any ebooks on lcd or any other backlist screen. I've tried on my desktop, my netbook and my iphone.

At this point, it's e-ink for ebooks or nothing.

Yep. Only e-ink for me for future readers. What's funny is that the only people that I know who have bad things to say about ebook readers are those who don't actually read. For some reason, they seem the most opposed to this change, yet they're the ones who won't be affected by it in any way (sort of like the hyper-religious and gay marriage). Everyone else seems at least interested, and when they see how you can use an e-ink device in full sunlight, they're pretty much convinced that's the way to go. That's not to say that other devices won't work for casual reading (iThings, netbooks, this thing, etc), but as far as truly dedicated reading devices go, e-ink has a HUGE advantage.

the only people that I know who have bad things to say about ebook readers are those who don't actually read.

Then allow me to shake your world.I'm a reader. I've read around twenty-five books so far this year (and some of them should probably count double, since they were Robert Jordan (embarrassed cough)).I am not a fan of ebooks, principally because paper is such a wonderful interface. You can make notes on it. You can skim through it easily. It has a great feeling of weight in the hand. You can put stickies on it. You can find an interesting passage by remembering where on the page it was located, what th

I think that for text books and other non-enjoyment reading stuff these things have potential. I'd love to have my text books and references guides packed onto a futuristic ebook. Hell the whole hitchhikers guide thing is just too cool, I'd love some sort of futuristic encyclopedia I can throw in my bag and get whatever I need from.

The ability to use an e-ink device in the sunlight does not change the fact that when it comes to reading indoors (or in public transportation, etc) a regular LCD usually blows it out of the water when it comes to readability, price and speed.

IMHO, the most critical aspect of E-ink that needs to be improved is the on-screen contrast (the current "grey-on-grey" screens are nearly unusable on regular indoors light)

If you turn the brightness all the way down then read on a tight format black on white (like Microsoft Reader's default format) with a good print font (not a screen font) in a room that's comfortably lit, it's really no different from reading from a printed page. The light levels are identical and the contrast is just as good as reading a low quality paperback. I read on my laptop that way and have for years. It's quite comfortable, as soon as you figure out how to hold the laptop for maximum relaxation (

Turning down the brightness, adjusting contrast, selecting a good font, and ensuring the right level of ambient light, those are all good things to do regardless. They do mitigate the problems of LCD screens, but "no different [than] reading from a printed page"? Hardly.

I think for you, things may be fine, or you may simply not notice enough to care. CRT users (even those with monitors set to a 60Hz refresh rate) said similar things. That Kindle users unanimously rave about the readability of their e-I

I guess its antecedents are open to debate. One thing that concerns me (but only a little) is from having looked at the demo video, it looks rather as if Microsoft have adopted the finger gestures (or whatever they're called) that Apple just nabbed a patent for a couple of months ago. IIRC there was a/. thread about it, but I can't find it at the moment.

OT: Given how long Slashdot has been in existence, one might be forgiven for getting a bit cranky over Slashcode's inability to perform a simple keyword s

Perhaps not, but I find it hard to fathom why anybody would want a 7-inch tablet from ANY company.

There are situations where I don't mind carrying a book-sized gadget around. In those situations, a small laptop is FAR superior in almost every way.

There are situations where I would rather not carry a book-sized gadget around. In those situations, an iPhone or Blackberry slips in your pocket and can do pretty much everything a tablet can do (and then some).

It's hard to fathom that there may be a product out there that doesn't fit your personal preferences?

I have no use for a smartphone personally. But I'm not going to be so presumptuous as to say that there's no place for such devices. I mean, it's neither a cellphone nor a laptop, but that has no bearing on the utility of such a device. Every new category of products exists to cater to a previously unfilled niche. It was the same with netbooks. And just as now, there were shortsighted/close-minded individual

I've seen Surface in action and used it. It is very fast and responsive and actually everyone who used it was greatly impressed. Resolution was great...good enough to inspect x-rays and MRIs in detail.As far as the other projects you mention: not every R&D project becomes a product...that is the nature of R&D. I, for one, am glad to get a glimpse into what people are working on and thinking about. If MS didn't show these R&D efforts, you'd be the first one complaining how secretive they are.You are clearly too biased against MS (yeah, I know, welcome to/.)

Check out this video [youtube.com]. See any similarities? Can you tell us what happened to the innovative product being marketed? Do you remember Origami? Natal? Surface?

A variety of Origami devices were launched, and continue to be launched. Natal has been announced, but not released: Nobody expected it to be, and Microsoft did not claim it was. I've seen multiple Surface installations, and it was in any case never targeted to consumers but to corporate markets (A price point of $25,000 per unit does that

I would also like to point out the everything in that video was in fact released. It is called Vista.
MS has problems, but lets try to stick to those instead of making pointless and incorrect posts.

Are we watching the same video?

Did you see the bit where it said "Coming October 2003"?

Did you notice that the UI in the Longhorn marketing video was responsive and fast, even in 2003? Do you remember Microsoft being subjected to a class-action lawsuit over its "Vista Capable" campaign? Have you ever used

The UI is just another part of the mock-up. It looks to be very dependent on handwriting recognition for character input, like entering the URL, which is very, very difficult to do right. (Has anyone done this well enough to be useful yet?)

There's no evidence that the UI in general is any more developed than the hardware side of the device- and until someone actually gets their hands on one, we won't know if the UI is any good or not. Remember, this is the same company that produced Vista's shutdown menu.

Microsoft has a nasty habit of fending off emerging threats by promising vaporware products that do the same job, only somehow better. In many of these cases, it's main job isn't to do $functionality, but distract attention and hype away from competitors (like, say, Apple's rumored tablet thingy), then the proposed product gets quietly buried once the hoopla is over.

It's a great way to suck the oxygen out of an emerging concept that threatens any sort of status quo... after all, Microsoft's profit margins got socked in the gut pretty hard by the whole netbook emergence.

The Knowledge Navigator concept had a screen that folded out like a book, as does Courier. It also supported multi-touch, as does Courier. It also did a lot of things that Courier can't do (but of course it didn't really do any of them since it was only a concept). So I think the GP is correct about Courier looking a bit like the Knowledge Navigator.

But then it's Microsoft and it is not a release version so likely all the cool features will be removed by then.

Ok, joking aside: what OS will they be running? Is Win7 capable of such neat touch-screen tricks already? Is such a tablet (which looks a bit like a double PDA to me) powerful enough for such a big system? I don't think I have ever seen or heard about a system that can do the things they demoed (well it was a complete mock-up: the user's hand was even drawn so it was for sure not a video of a rea

The video provided by Gizmodo shows a revolutionary multitouch UI. It might be more related to the system Microsoft developed for its Surface computers, rather than Windows 7's built in multitouch.
Whether the mockup described in the video represents an entirely new Microsoft OS or an application running on top of an existing OS will be an interesting clue as to Microsoft's strategy for the tablet market.

Two screens double the size of an iPhones. Very nice. The pocket in the middle...very nice. the folding (a 15" combined screen area in a package the size of a small netbook)...very, very nice. If this thing even thinks about supporting Office, Apple may have a tough time competing with this thing if it is all as listed here. Of course, as with any company, things change before release (anyone remember WinFS?).

Not really. Origami was basically a way of reviving Windows XP Tablet Edition in something resembling a Game Gear, where you have a two-hand grip and do most of your control through the thumbs. This seems to be more of a bespoke OS, in a proper tablet form factor.

I don't see a significant advantage to this two-page style of design, but do see significant disadvantages - the big one being the awkwardness of holding it. It's only going to be comfortable to use if you're basically in those positions where a paper book is easy to hold, which pretty much means sitting down. There's probably a good reason the photo and demo video don't show an actual person using the device.

Well, I'm guessing it flips around and you can hold it like a laptop - maybe use the lower screen for typing (which would probably be miserable). What would be really cool is if the second screen could go all the way around like a spiral notbook, so it holds the form factor of a single screen device.

I see a number of significant advantages to a two-page style design:-Twice the screen size in the same form factor. That's a pretty big deal.-Built in screen protection-Last I checked, paperbacks can be held one handed if they're not too thick such that the binding closes itself.-Familiar and attractive design.

Having a hinge with all the necessary wires going thru it is not an advantage. Laptops have similar designs but this looks like it will be flexed a lot more often than people move their laptop screens.

Reporting on Microsoft vapourware is just plain silly considering how little of their announcements that reach the market. Considering how much specs that gets tossed out the window to get it out after delays upon delays makes it even more pointless.

A screen that folds up would simultaneously solve two problems: First, be smaller for easy carrying. Second, be large enough for viewing whole documents and for older people. I've seen "scoll" computers depicted in scifi: screens that roll up into a compact cylinder. But they sound further in the future.

I have to agree with you on this one. The fact that it can look like a book sitting in your hands, with what looks like nice leather bindings, adds to a certain aesthetic snoot that usually only applies to Apples products.

I've always been a huge proponent of a dual screen laptop. A ton of people cry about the lack of a tactile keyboard and it always ends there. Haptic feedback is getting better and I can see that as the future but for now something like this is needed. A single screen tablet just isn't useful or natural and they never truly caught on. This type of device is. I think it should actually be oriented as a regular laptop with a simple sensor to know the orientation change to portrait mode and function as shown in the demo videos. Just having the option is better than making it a portrait only device for no real reason.

My other concern is that Microsoft is not good at UI design. Occasionally they have flashes of brilliance but on the whole they fail miserably in this regard. Apple is not always better, so this isn't some fanboy argument. What they should do it farm out the UI to a design firm, something along the lines of Art Lebedev. Let it be truly revolutionary instead of being handcuffed by old ideas and methodologies.

Foe me, you give me those two things and make it a bit thinner but strong and I'm totally sold. I don't think it needs to be netbook cheap even, a fair range of $1200-$1600 and I think it is a winner. Teachers, students, professionals, ebooks, etc. in one device is a disruptive technology.

It's not just "haptic feedback" which befuddles touch keyboards. You also have the issue of keeping your hands oriented on the keyboard, which is difficult when you can't feel it. Then there's ergonomics. To operate a touch keypad, you hold your fingers off the keypad when you're not actively pressing the buttons. That's the reverse of a mechanical keypad, and it's going to be exhausting. These are fixable (Nokia's tactile screen concept for the former, the Blackberry click-screen idea for the latter) but a

umm, that is exactly what haptic feedback is. It would allow the screen to have feel to it. Ex: raised bumps for each key that have a click to them when depressed (sort of like the BB Storm screen), or a raised ridge on the "F" and "J" just like a real keyboard for orientation, or tons of other unique and new methods.

Ergonomics of it is no different than current laptop keyboards or Apple keyboards with very thin keys. Those tolerances are within specs of what a feedback enabled screen could do.

Who is good at UI design, in your opinion, then? I certainly don't think Gnome or KDE are particularly good at it (or, honestly, most open source... and closed source... applications). I don't like Apple's, but I guess it works. I don't like the iPhone, but mainly because of the lack of multitasking. Personally, I have found Win 7 to be decent (better than Vista). I like Gnome better than KDE. I'd say Gnome and Win 7's are my favorites... and while agree MS isn't particularly good at it, I haven't r

A design firm, even the likes of Art Lebedev Studios is a drop in the bucket compared to the R&D and design work that goes into something like this. Just because Art Lebedev has created expensive items directly (which was never meant for production and housed over a hundred OLED screens) doesn't mean that everything they do is expensive to that level. Lots of major companies do this kind of design work outside of their normal product lines.

I freely admit my ignorance, I was judging the studio in question solely by the product you allude to, since I am entirely ignorant of their other work. Could you point me to some of their designs that have been realised in an affordable form?

The best place to start is their website: http://www.artlebedev.com/ [artlebedev.com] you will see that they do indeed do design work for UI's like the GPS navigation system and T&C Amplifier on the front page. They have a store link which has a bunch of their work.

Heh, yes, but their stuff is expensive to begin with no matter who designed the interface. The thing I was getting at is that Art Lebedev is just one such company, I actually think there are better firms out there for a thing like this. Even better let a few young and hungry firms work on it and see what they can come up with.

The big picture is to get away from coders and techies creating interfaces, they aren't good at it. We like to think we have skillz in this area but the reality is just as much dedicat

you think how DRM crippled this will be. IF it becomes a must have item, it is a chance to get DRM firmly entrenched via the back door. Especially when you consider the studios that MS has done deals with, and their love of Digital restrictions. It will be the kick start for DRM. Approved content only, from the MS Store, no loading your "downloaded" ebooks on this baby. Its the perfect platform for strategy shift without too much whinging from us freedom lovers.

is there really a consumer level need for a dual screen tablet? On top of that, if you look at the costs of netbooks, the screen and touchscreen are a huge expense when you look at netbooks in the sub $300 range. I really think what we have here is Microsoft marketing attempting to pump up their falling brand name by making a device they can show "pushing" windows from one screen to the next screen. In the real world, it's just not going to cut it except for those Microsoft lemmings who buy everything wi

Sure MS might suck as a corporation, and release dodgy software and charge more then acceptable for it, but their hardware division is actually quite good. I have plenty of MS hardware and it [i]is[/i] good quality, far better than the software. Don't paint all their products with the same brush.

That's a very good point. So you can't get your programming on the machine? So what? Don't buy it. It's not for you [penny-arcade.com].

You already have access to netbooks, laptops, cell phones (if you were mad enough to do your programming work on one).

This seems to be a stab at what the PDA originally was - a personal organizer that can blend seamlessly with work space. A majority of the people in the working world who would see a device like this as practical are exactly the sort of people who have to maintain calendars, m

I think you're being very naive in assuming there's only a few thousand technical people in the world.Think of all the net admins, sys admins, web developers, app developers, DBAs etc etc.I bet if you added them all up there's probably as many if not more of us than there are travelling salesmen in the world.

My actual point is this: This is YET ANOTHER product in an already overcrowded market of personal organizer-type products, that all have almost identical features (internet browsing, exchange integratio